Ashes of a Rose
by Kick Caskett
Summary: She stood there. Shot him. Point blank. It was an over-whelming sense of relief that she finally caught the man that organised for her mother to be murdered in that cold, deserted alley. Full summary inside...
1. Prologue

She stood there. Shot him. Point blank. It was an over-whelming sense of relief that she finally caught the man that organised for her mother to be murdered in that cold, deserted alley. The same man that had tried to take her life away, when he shot her in the heart at Montgomery's funeral. She knew her actions would have serious repercussions, repercussions so immense that she couldn't even comprehend at the moment. But the only thing she could think about was the forgiveness of the man she loved… 


	2. Numbers

**1 Week Earlier…**

It was an ordinary day in New York City. There was rain pouring down creating chaos around the city. There was a sea of people wandering around the streets all holding black umbrellas, covering themselves from the storm that was brewing. Many were moving at such a quick pace that they were bumping into each other. Many gave a quick glance, saying a brief sorry before continuing on their way. But surprisingly the 12th precinct's homicide diversion was unusually quiet. So today Katherine Beckett strolled on into the precinct, inhaling the strong smell of coffee. She had a wide smile on her face and not a care in the world, but her thoughts and care free attitude were broken when she was startled and stopped in her tracks just as she stepped of the elevator.

"Yo! Beckett, I think I've found something you should see." Esposito wasn't sure she wanted to hear what he had to say, but he knew that if she found out that he kept this from her, there might be another dead body to be never found in New York City.

Beckett took a sip of her coffee and looked at her friend confusingly. "What?"

"We found a new lead on the guy that shot you" replied Esposito hesitantly and quietly trying to avoid anyone else in the precinct hearing what he was about to reveal, after all Gates told them not to investigate the matter anymore.

"I thought you stopped searching early last year." Beckett responded mimicking her long-time friend's whisper.

"We did, until I received this email late last night" said Esposito as he passed Beckett an A4 piece of paper with little writing on it.

Beckett didn't take her eyes of the paper. After all this could be a chance to catch her mother's murderer. She started at it intriguingly. "What's with all the numbers?" asked Beckett.

Esposito began walking over to his desk and turned on the screen of his computer. Beckett followed knowing that Espo was going to provide the explanation she desired so badly. "That's what I said. It appeared to have the name number of digits as a bank account number. So I ran it through the data base and it came up with an account in Washington D.C." Eposito began to punch some letters and numbers into his computer until a screen popped up.

"Who is the account holder?" demanded Beckett. She remembered that after she got shot Castle had spent months following a money trail, but had ended up with just a bunch of dead ends.

"The CIA" Esposito answered hesitantly. Beckett froze momentarily. After their last experience with the CIA (mostly to do with Castle's crazy power abusing girlfriend) she didn't want to have another unpleasant experience.

"What else have you got?" she asked, once they were in the break room and out of Gate's earshot.

"That's all we know at the moment. We were going to wait to speak to you to know what to do next." interjected Detective Ryan.

She gained her composure after the intriguing information she had just received. She then turned her attention to Castle, who was sitting in _his_ chair over by her desk.

"What do you think we should do Beckett?" asked Ryan noticing that her eyes were focusing on Castle. She continued to stare for several moments until Ryan spoke up again.

"Beckett!"

Beckett was finally brought back to reality by Ryan's stern words. "W-What?"

"I said what do you think we should do with the info" repeated Ryan.

"Meet me at our apartment at 7:00pm tonight so we can talk. I know Gates would put a stop to all this if she found out. This is the most promising lead we have found in months"

"O.K." replied both detectives as they walked back over to their desk.

Beckett then proceeded to walk over to where Castle was playing with a rubber band. He seemed to be immensely focused on the object; he could be such a little child sometimes. She went to sit down in her comfy, wheelie chair, barley taking his eyes off him. He raised his eyes once he saw her sit down next to him and take a sip out of her coffee that he had continued to bring to her every day for the last 5 years. Their eyes meet and for a moment they spoke without any words. Beckett gently placed her hand on his knee, which he understood as another way of saying we need to talk. He knew what her actions meant, but not here, not now. Castle gently placed her hand in his and stoked the ring the _he_ had placed there not even 3 months ago. After everything they had been through they finally gave in to their emotions and decided to spend the rest of their lives together. All their friends knew and were immensely excited for them both. The only person who didn't know was Captain 'Iron' Gates. They both knew that if she found out Castle would be kicked out of the precinct faster he could say 'She must me intimidated by my ruggedly handsome looks.' Beckett and Castle were broken from their little trance once Ryan began shouting across the room.

"Beckett! We got a case!"

"Where?"

"34rd and Lex"

"Let's go Castle" said Beckett as she gently tapped him on the arm; he of course complained which brought a little smile to her face.

**A/N: Well that's Chapter 1! Please take the time to leave a REVIEW, it helps to know what people think of your ideas and to know what I can improve on :D Anyways Chapter 2 will be up very soon!**

**Much Love,**

**Kick Caskett**


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